BL/BACKBOX® Virtual Tape Controller
BL/BackBox is an external tape emulator managed by BL/LIB. BL/BackBox attaches to one or several ClearPath servers via FC or iSCSI and emulates dozens of tape devices. When using iSCSI emulation, BL/BackBox can connect to Virtualized ClearPath instances.
BL/LIB integrates the emulated tape devices and BackBox-attached storage with ClearPath tape activity.
Whereas other virtual tape implementations utilize a Linux-based server, the BackBox application runs a Windows environment. Moreover, the BackBox application retains no tape-related data, but serves as a bridge between the ClearPath and the storage location of your choice. Furthermore, the BackBox application is tightly integrated with BL/LIB. All tape activity is initiated and monitored by BL/LIB.
BCOM facilitates the development of distributed job processing across mixed-vendor environments, thus allowing installations to take advantage of the strengths of each processing environment while conforming to industry standard communications.
| Flexibility | Customized Options |
|---|---|
| Mitigate risk | Physical or Virtual Hardware |
| Physical or Virtual Hardware | Mitigate risk |
| Outline roadmap for the future | FC or iSCSI |
| Seamlessly move from NAS to Cloud | Supports integrated physical tape |
Unlike traditional virtual tape systems, every BackBox instance is context-free and depends upon BL/LIB for its meta-data and configuration. Should a BackBox server require replacement there is no critical data at risk of loss. More importantly, multiple BackBox systems can work together to supply an array of tape devices to a single ClearPath, across multiple channel paths with no risk of operational disruption should a single BackBox server be taken off-line. A pair of BackBox servers present sufficient connectivity and performance to provide high-availability support for an entire data center.
Prerequisites
- Server Configuration
- Storage Options
- Storage Optimization
- Deduplication
Implementation
- Installation/Migration
- Management Console
- JBOT Console
- BL/LIB LibraryServer
- STC/Driver
Operational
- Scratchpools
- Library Maintenance
- CopyAudit
- DMUTILITY
- HA/DR/Failover
Prerequisites
- Server Configuration
- Storage Options
- Storage Optimization
- Deduplication
Implementation
-
Installation/
Migration - Management Console
- JBOT Console
- BL/LIB LibraryServer
- STC/Driver
Operational
- Scratchpools
- Library Maintenance
- CopyAudit
- DMUTILITY
- HA/DR/Failover
- Flexible solution that mitigates risk, allows a wide range of hardware (physical or virtual) and storage (DAS, NAS, Cloud) types, supports integrated physical tapes and connects through any protocol (FC or iSCSI).
- The new interface LibraryServer enhances the standard BL/LIB installation. LibraryServer directs virtual tape requests to BL/BackBox.
- Command examples would include mounts and dismounts and virtual tape operations, such as replication, export and disk reclamation.